HOLDEN has made its final case for further taxpayer assistance as the future of its manufacturing operations looks increasingly grim, with the Federal Government vowing to cut $500 million from industry funding as it tries to balance the budget.

Lodging its submission to the Australian Productivity Commission today Holden repeated earlier claims about how much money the car maker spends in return for government assistance - and the knock-on effect in the parts supply industry and the rest of the economy.

Holden claims it generated $32.7 billion of economic activity in Australia from 2001 to 2012, including $21 billion paid to other businesses for goods and services.

During that period Holden received $1.8 billion in Federal funding, but says it "returned" $1.4 billion to the Government via the PAYG income tax of its workers.

"If Holden did not manufacture in Australia, the economic activity derived from the foreign investment by GM would not go elsewhere in Australia," the report says. "In fact, it would be invested by GM in another country."

The report also provided a grim but honest assessment of the sharp decline in the local production of Holden cars and exports.

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The production peak of the Elizabeth factory of 165,000 cars in 2004 has been halved, with Holden on track to build just 84,000 vehicles this year.

The biggest export year was 2008, when Holden shipped 56,000 cars, mostly to the US, when the Australian dollar was worth US84c.

Exports have fallen sharply since the Australian dollar reached parity; just 13,000 cars were exported last year, about 16 per cent of Holden's local production.

At the start of his new role, Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said Holden must export at least 30 per cent of its local production in return for further government funding.

The Productivity Commission is due to publish a preliminary report on the car manufacturing industry on December 20 ahead of a final report on March 31.

Mr Macfarlane and Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey said any decision on Holden funding would be made in "April or May", after the final Productivity Commission report.

Holden says its parent company General Motors needs a decision on government assistance by Christmas, to meet an investment deadline on the future models it will build globally.

In March 2012 Holden had agreed to build two new cars from 2016 to 2022 after receiving a pledge for $275 million in State and Federal assistance.

But since Ford announced in May this year that it would close its Australian factories in 2016, Holden has lobbied for an increase in funding because, it says, "market conditions have changed dramatically" since the March 2012 deal was signed.

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